Colorism in the Black Community

Light-skinned people -black or not- are obviously perceived as less threatening compared to a darker complected person in society.

Colorism is so unnecessarily dominant. But before I get into the details, you might be wondering, “what exactly is colorism?’. Well I’m glad you asked.

First off, I’d like to establish the difference between colorism and racism. Ever since the multiracial community started to enlarge and America started becoming less white, race has become a more notable factor in everyday interactions. The horrid perceptions that racists harbor is based solely on the judgement and prejudice against people associated with a certain race. So of course race is a really great factor, but so is color, which leads to the issue of colorism. Colorism happens with people apart of the same race and unfortunately it is manifesting in the Black Community.

Colorism is somewhat a taboo topic. I mean one would think that after dealing with generations after generations of oppression and hatred that the community would steer far away from anymore type of division. But that’s the thing, we have no more room for division A sense of self-hatred has sadly been established due to the color of one’s skin in our community.

Colorism is literally hindering progression, it’s bad enough the media betrays darker skinned people so poorly. Light skinned people do in fact have a sense of privilege, and I’ve heard the argument that they to can be judged, but who isn’t judged to a certain extent? At the end of the day there is no room to argue that lighter skinned people aren’t portrayed more positively in media.

It’s hard to imagine the ridicule one is faced to go through and overcome for being dark complected, especially when you yourself haven’t faced it first hand. The comments burned into the back of one’s mind causing insecurities that last a lifetime isn’t easily talked about. Especially if a light skinned person is claiming that they face the same obstacles when they in obviously don’t.

The Black Community doesn’t need to deal with any more excessive problems then they already do, separation within the community is beyond unnecessary. Light skinned people shouldn’t feel superior, but instead use their privilege as an advantage to help the community and establish more unity.